>> all right. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. that's it for this "special repo." fair, balanced and unafraid. >> gunshots inside one of america's top ranked hospitals. a doctor rushed to surgery. a patient dead. tonight, the medical center turned crime scene. plus the final moments of a woman desperate to save her family. i'm jon scott in for shepard smith. the news starts now. >> we have a lady who is in our bank right now who says that her husband and children are being held at their house. >> that woman did not survive. and her husband says he could only listen helpless while these men attacked his wife and children. >> we think of jennifer, haley

and makalya every second of every day. >> tonight, searching for justice after an unthinkable crime. he's accused of murdering 13 people during the fort hood shooting spree. now, it's time for major nidal hasan to finally face a judge. plus -- drugs in america. tonight, the startling new study that's forcing the question -- why are so many people getting high? gunfire ringing through the halls of one of the best hospitals in the world today as police say a man overwhelmed by his mother's condition pulled a gun and opened fire on her doctor. the shooting didn't stop there. it happened at johns hopkins medical center. investigators say the doctor had just told 50-year-old paul warren partis his mother had been left paralyzed. >> during the course of the conversation with the doctor, mr. davis removed a small

semiautomatic handgun from his waist area, waistband area and fired a single gunshot that struck the doctor. >> that's when police started the evacuations, they blocked off the floor and shut down parts of the hospital. this afternoon on "studio b" a nurse at the hospital described the scene as complete chaos. >> when the elevator doors opened, guns were drawn. >> these were police guns that you saw? >> yes. >> what did the police say to you? >> actually, police are still here. they just told us to back away from the elevator and to close the door immediately. >> you feel safe at work right now? >> absolutely not. >> a couple of hours after this all began, police say they noticed the suspect and his mother were not moving. teams entered the room and they say they found both dead from gunshot wounds. johns hopkins is in baltimore, maryland. it is one of the state's largest private employers.

and that's where molly hennenberg is standing right now. how was this guy able to get inside with a gun, molly? >> hi, jon. he wasn't known or expected to be a dangerous or high risk visitor so he wasn't searched or wanded when he came in. he was known to the hospital as warren davis. police told us later that was an alias, as you said, jon, his actual name is paul warren partis. hospital officials here say most hospitals including johns hopkins do not have screening equipment. they say "it's not realistic to have them and the accompanied armed staff to watch them at over 80 loading docks, emergency exits at a health care center." still here at johns hopkins, they intend to review and evaluate their security procedure. >> how is the doctor recovering now, molly? >> his name is dr. david cohen, said to be in his mid 30's. he's a spinal specialist. he took one gunshot to the lower chest, upper abdomen region. he was immediately rushed into the operating room by his

colleagues. he was in surgery for several hours. hospital officials say he is expected to survive. >> molly henneberg in baltimore, thank you. and just to clear up the confusion in the early going, police thought the gunman's name was davis. you might have heard the police officer refer to him as such. in fact, it was just released that his name is paul warren partis, 350 years old. -- 50 years old. the network will air reruns of "gray's anatomy" tonight with warnings. tonight, it kills workers and triggers a lockdown before killing himself. abc spokesperson says local stations will have the option to run different episodes depending on what is best for their markets. some alarming figures now that show illegal drug use hitting the highest level in years. with an estimated 21.8 million americans using them in 2009. that's according to a major

government survey on the topic. obviously, there's no way to be certain that people are telling the truth in surveys like this one. they consider this study the most comprehensive look at drug use in the united states. they spoke with 67,000 people to get a snap shot. hear what they found, marijuana use up by 10% and still the most commonly used drug. in fact, more than 16 million americans age 12 and older are estimated to have used it within the past month. 37% more americans are using ecstasy these days. but that increase is still less than what we're seeing with methamphetamine because the survey found meth use is up a whopping 60% in 2009 despite recent crackdowns. at least one bright spot in the study when it comes to cocaine because the researchers found coke abuse is actually dropping down 16% this year. it paints a picture this year. trace, to what did the experts

attribute these increases? >> you know, just talked to the white house drug czar. when it comes to ecstasy, he says we've simply taken our eye off the ball. back in the early 2000's, there was an early campaign warning young people about the dangers of ecstasy or x as they call it. when campaign went away, the usage went up. as for methamphetamine, the drug czar blames cold medicine or at least the main ingredient. even though the feds cracked down on it back in 2006. listen. >> they put pseudo ephedrine behind the counter and you have to show i.d. unfortunately, what we've seen in the last couple of years is that groups of people called smurfers are able to use fake i.d. and other ways to get around that act and manufacture a very high grade meth. he also said more marijuana is

crossing into this country. >> the marijuana stats are startling because we didn't see an increase towards criminalizing it. >> marijuana increase will go way up because medical marijuana. drug czar says medical marijuana just sends a very bad message to young people. we've been telling them for years that pot is bad for you. it's harmful. and yet you look at meth. 14 states along with the district of columbia have now legalized medical marijuana. certainly more will come on line in coming years. on top of that, california is voting on a measure in november to legalize it all together. here's the drug czar. >> it's a horrible mistake for anybody to think that it is going to save money. that it is going to reduce the amounts of costs around law enforcement or that it's going to solve the violence problem in mexico. none of that holds up to any scrutiny. >> those in favor of legalizing marijuana say today's numbers

are big time proof that the government's war against marijuana has failed. john? >> trace gallagher, thanks. >> we are counting down to the midterms here at america's election headquarters and president obama heading out on the campaign trail tonight. he's speaking at two fundraisers in connecticut. one for the democratic party. one for senate candidate richard blumenthal. remember, blumenthal recently apologized for what he called misplaced words. when he claimed he had served in vietnam. he actually got five deferments and then served in the reserves here in the u.s. during the vietnam war. mike emanuel live at the white house for us now. what is the thinking, mike, about the obama factor in the connecticut contest? >> jon, for the blumenthal campaign, it means cash. it's a blue state, the president is getting a very warm reception in connecticut. but one expert of the political scene up there says there are risks. >> it's a calculated risk

because although all of our surveys show that blumenthal is probably the most beloved public official in the state, we have to remember that we really are facing an anti-incumbent mood in the electorate even in connecticut. >> so linda mcmahan, the republican in the race known for being the c.e.o. of the world wrestling entertainment is using this to point at blumenthal and say he is an insider by bringing the president in when the polls get close and i should note that blumenthal was up by 41 points in january. it's dropped to six last week, jon. >> less than two months until the election, should we expect to see the president out campaigning a lot? his popularity is down. >> his senior aides say the president will go out on the road in districts and places where candidates think he can be helpful but in swing districts, districts that could go, perhaps, republican, you may not see him there. in places like connecticut, where you have a huge independent vote out there, his numbers are down with

independents. that's why you hear people talking about risk, jon. >> mike emanuel at the white house. thank you. you can keep tabs on all the political action as we count down to the midterms. go to our web site at foxnews.com/aehg as in america's election headquarters. you can get an app for your ipad, iphone or other smart phones. it will get you updates any time, anywhere. the mayor of dallas showing some anger after what he calls unacceptable behavior from some of his officers. it started with a chase and it ended with some punches. coming up, what the mayor says about what needs to happen now. plus investigators say the criminals arrived in the night, tied up the father and forced the mother to go withdraw money from the bank all the while holding the family hostage and that is only part of this horrible case. coming up, a bank teller's desperate 911 call and the police action that came too late.

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>> a woman who lost her sister and two nieces in a horrific home invasion turned murder is speaking out tonight to fox news as details never heard before emerge at trial. investigators report these two men broke into a connecticut family's home back in july of 2007. allegedly they tied up the father and the girls and then drove the mother to the bank to withdraw cash. cops say they later raped and strangled the mother, sexually assaulted one of the girls and set fire to the home with the family inside. our chief fox report correspondent jonathan hunt is live outside the courthouse where this trial is playing out in connecticut. >> jon, the evidence in this trial is gruesome and it is graphic. it has brought jurors to tears and forcing the relatives of the victims to relive the entire ordeal. today, cynthia renn, the youngest sister of the murdered woman told me how she is coping and how she remembers her sister.

>> my sister was a wonderful person. she would walk into a room and she could light it up like it was imagine magic. >> this is the last picture of her sister captured at a surveillance camera at the bank where apparently calm in the face of terror, she had gone to get the cash her captors had demanded. she was ordered not to contact the police. she didn't. the bank manager did. >> we have a lady who is in our bank right now who says that her husband and children are being held at their house, the people are in a car outside the bank. she is getting $15,000 to bring out to them. if the police are told, they will kill the children and the husband. >> at that moment, jennifer pettitte's daughters, 17-year-old hayley and 11-year-old michaela and her husband dr. william petit were

hostages tied up in their own home. >> they told her they wouldn't hurt anybody. she believes them. >> she was wrong. after jennifer got back with the money, she was raped. as was her younger daughter who had been tied to her bed. the suspects, steven hayes who is now on trial, and joshua komisarjevky who will be tried later allegedly set the house on fire and dead. they died tied to a couch and bed. the elder hayley died as she apparently tried to save her sister. bill petit struggled free from the basement where he had been tied up and badly beaten, the sole survivor of his family's nightmare. now he sits in court every day reliving that nightmare, seeking justice and, perhaps, like jennifer petit's sister, trying to understand. >> i honestly cannot imagine any human being doing this.

i don't think about him. i just can't imagine that anybody is capable of doing a crime like this. >> the two accused men are being tried separately. steven hayes first in this trial and joshua komisarjevsky will face trial next year. the relatives will go through this next year. it's unlikely they'll get an answer to that question, how anyone would do the sort of things that were done to jennifer petit and her two young daughters. jon? >> ghastly. jonathan hunt, thank you. the mayor of dallas says the city is acting quickly after what he calls an isolated incident. police video showing officers beating a suspect. it started with this chase. the officers went after the guy for reportedly riding his motorcycle on the sidewalk. after a few miles, he pulls over and lays on the ground. the officers jump out of their cruiser and the video shows them beating him with their hands and batons.

it lasted about 15 seconds. the man was treated for bruising and blood clots but this afternoon on "studio b" the mayor said he wasn't the only one hurt here. >> and it's important situation like this because it reflects poorly on the city but also reflects poorly on our police department. we have thousands of men and women who every day go out and do exactly the right thing. and so that's one of the real tragedies in this. >> the department has already fired one of the officers. and is investigating others. investigators say he opened fire in public and now we'll know if he'll face justice the same way. next, a decision on whether the suspected fort hood shooter gets an open trial. and it's a real life history lesson, the students who are living like they did in the olden days before facebook. the experiment is next. ♪

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>> the suspected fort hood shooter, army major nidal hasan back in court today. he's facing 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. in the massacre last november 5th at the texas army post. today, hasan's attorney asked a military judge to ban the media from a hearing next month. the judge rejected that request saying the public and the victims' families have a right to hear testimony from those who the attack affected. hasan's attorney says the media coverage could jeopardize his client's chance for a fair trial. >> every day since 5 november, 2009, the media, locally, nationally, internationally, has focused in some manner or another on this case. >> regardless, the proceeding known as an article 32 hearing will go on and it will be open. sarah talbert from my fox austin joins us from fort hood. what exactly is an article 32 hearing, sarah?

>> well, jon, in civil court proceedings, it's basically similar to a pretrial hearing and it is required before major hasan can be considered for a court-martial. today, his attorney saying he fully expects this to go to trial. >> so what else happened in court today? >> well, jon, there were actually two other requests that were submitted. one was denied. and the other is set for further examination. the one that was denied is the release of the autopsy findings in the article 32 hearing. the lawyer does not want that to happen. he says he's concerned that he has not had an expert, his expert go over those autopsy findings. in fact, that request was denied back in june. the judge again denying today. also, the trial -- the article 32 hearing is scheduled right here on fort hood for october 12th. jon?

>> thanks very much, sarah, for being with us. new video into fox of a severe storm which blew through new york city a little more than an hour ago. a storm which witnesses say just appears to have come out of nowhere. the sky instantly turning black. there was pouring rain, lightning and very powerful winds. trees snapped in half. cars crushed. buildings damaged. a viewer sent us this shot. and many commuter train lines and city highways said to be at a stand still. the weather also forcing fans to run for cover at a mets-pirates game at city field and the national weather service issued a tornado warning for parts of the new york metropolitan area but that warning has since expired. tax cuts may be on the way at least for some americans. the senate signing off on a plan today. now, republicans demand a vote on extending the bush tax cuts for everyone. and some democrats defying their leaders including the president to join the fight. we're live in d.c. and developing right now, a

hostage stand-off after dozens of gunmen kidnapped workers here a uranium mine. update just ahead on "the fox report." [ male announcer ] you can dream of completely transforming

how new york city manages i.t. or, like bmc software, you can dream it and do it. bmc lists on nasdaq, the world's most innovative can-do exchange. >> i'm jon scott in for shepard smith. this is "the fox report." it's the bottom of the hour. time for the top of the news.

and a lot more americans are losing their homes to foreclosure these days. data from the foreclosure listing service realty track shows lenders took back more than 95,000 homes last month. that's more than in any month since the mortgage crisis began three years ago and helped push the economy into recession. the latest foreclosure numbers are up 3% from the month before. and 25% from august of 2009. but there is a bright spot in all of this, the fox business network's adam shapiro live in our newsroom. adam, explain the news here. >> well, it sounds like good news because for the seventh time in seven months, actually, we've seen a slowdown in the rate of foreclosures but devil is in the details. i mean, what's actually happening according to realty track is the banks have repossessed and foreclosed on 900,000 homes so far this year, they've only put 300,000 of those homes back on the market. they're getting a backlog. they're slowing everything down. and it's not because they want to do people a favor it costs them money if they have to put

homes on their books. it's slowing the process. >> what do americans feel about buying homes these days? >> americans have mixed opinions about it. a new poll say it's a good time to buy a home but 83% and this is where you have to be careful. 83% say it's a bad time to sell. if you've been offered a job and have to move to a new city, it's tough to sell your home and slowing everything down. >> how did the markets react to this news today? >> markets are reacting to a couple of things. first, you know, people believe that prices on homes are going to actually hold where they are. they don't believe that prices are really going to be skyrocketing any time soon. but we also got some economic data today which is very important. the initial claims for unemployment benefits but the stock market was up today on that news. we also had a bit of inflation which is good for the federal reserve. >> adam shapiro, thank you.

americans are easing up on layoffs. they report 3,000 fewer americans filed their first claims for jobless benefits last week. it's the third drop in the last four weeks. but even as companies lay off fewer workers, we are still waiting to see new hiring pick up. the senate today passed a bill designed in part to help with that. it's a measure that would set aside $30 billion of your tax money for community banks to lend to small businesses. it also would cut the taxes of those small businesses and boost loan programs from the small business administration. many republicans oppose the bill comparing it to the bank bailouts. they also argue the measure could encourage banks to make more risky loans. but democrats say the bill will help small businesses get through a period in which lending and therefore spending is tight. james rosen is live on capitol hill and as this small business bill heads to the house, the two parties are still going back and forth over the plan to extend the bush era tax cuts, right?

>> that's right, jon. until today, the prime strategy of both parties has been to try to cherry pick off members of the opposition and get them to defect. today, the republicans as the minority party had a new tactic, the rather disarmingly simple proposition, no tax hikes on anyone. >> the american people are not going to accept anything less than the vote that they deserve. the speaker should pledge to the american people and when she stands before these cameras later on today, she ought to pledge that they're being honest, up or down vote on stopping all of the coming tax hikes. >> what i believe the american people deserve are the tax cuts of the middle class and without getting into procedure and timing and process, what we're going to do is to say at the end of the day, the extension of the obama middle income tax cuts will take place.

>> it was so subtle you might not even have caught it, jon. not the extension of the bush era tax cuts anymore but speaker pelosi rebranding them of the extension of the obama middle class tax cuts. >> i caught it. i caught it. there was some progress, though, i guess. some lawmakers say they are willing to compromise? >> well, increasingly, it's not just republicans who are trying to cherry pick off democrats to get them to side with across-the-board tax cuts. it's democrats. in fact, two pelosi lieutenants of the house majority leader, steny hoyer and his fellow marylander, chris van holland both members of the democratic leadership have both signalled in recent days some willingness to bend and then there is glenn nye, the brave freshman democrat from virginia who persuaded 30 fellow democrats to sign on to a letter to speaker pelosi. >> i'm going to try to build as big a group, biggest coalition behind this process of extending all the tax cuts as possible. i think it's a pretty common sense thing that folks at home

are telling us that they'd really like us to do, especially the people i represent in southeast virginia, they're saying look, it's not the right time to raise anybody's taxes. >> also, one final note on a procedural vote, senate democrats today rejected a measure that president obama has identified as one of his top priority items on his economic agenda, the permanent extension of the credits on taxes that businesses receive for research and development. jon? >> james rosen on capitol hill. thanks. more americans are living in poverty according to the u.s. census bureau, it reports the median household income last year was just under $50,000 and the poverty line was at just under $22,000 for a family of four. the report shows for every six folks living above that threshold, one was living below it and 43.6 million americans living in poverty. that's up from 39.8 million the year before. it is the largest number of people living in poverty since the government started keeping records 51 years ago.

more trouble for the scandal ridden city of belle, california. yesterday, the state's attorney general announced he is suing the three former city officials and others after hearing reports they were paying themselves excessive wages. these three officials alone were making a combined $1.6 million a year until they resigned. now, the state's controller's office reports the city must refund more than $2 million to local businesses because the l.a. suburb illegally increased its business license taxes by more than 50% over the past 10 years. newspapers have struggled to get users to pay for digital content. there could soon be an app for that. computer giant apple expected to announce a new subscription plan for the ipad users. they will be available on the app store. changes coming to yahoo,

internet giant trying out a new look aimed at luring web users back from competitors like facebook and google. the new features include a faster e-mail inbox and the ability to send tweets directly from the mail service. we're told the upgrades go into effect sometime this fall. facebook and twitter among the most popular sites on the internet especially with students. but one pennsylvania college is blocking access to them for this entire week. officials at the harrisburg university of science and technology say it's part of an experiment to see how social media impacts people's lives. we're told some students say it's helped them focus in class. cameras have been following the construction at ground zero for years now. but so have a group of artists using their tal enents to captu the emotions at that hallowed site. the latest in our rise from freedom series. extraordinary triple threat in the tropics. three hurricanes at the same time.

latest on where each of the storms is headed coming up and this woman claimed an attacker threw acid in her face. but just minutes ago, police said, that's not exactly what happened. the stunning new development coming up. i have asthma. and when my symptoms came back i'd get this tightness in my chest. so i went back to my doctor again. we chose symcort to help control my asthma symptoms. [ man ] symbicort improves my lung function... starting within 15 minutes. [ woman ] symbicort will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. it is a combinatio of two medicines and should t be taken more often than prescribed. [ man ] symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol inease the risk of death from asthma oblems, and children and adolescents may have an increased risk of being hospitalized for asthmproblems. [ woman ] symbicort is not for people whose asthma is ll controlled

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>> just into the fox newsroom, investigators saying the seemingly horrific acid attack in washington state last month was a hoax. if you remember, a woman said she was outside a starbucks when another woman walked up to her and threw acid in her face. here's how she looked before the attack on the left. and after on the right. but investigators say some parts of her story just did not add up. they searched her home this morning and afterwards, they say she admitted she did it to herself. >> she is extremely upset. she's very remorseful in many ways, this is something that got bigger than what she expected so she has shown this has affected

her a great deal. >> investigators would not comment on what motivated her to do it. shortly after that incident, a woman in arizona said someone threw acid in her face. local reports have dubbed it a copycat attack. police there say only it was likely a separate incident. seven workers that worked for a french nuclear company kidnapped from their beds. the victims, five french nationals and two africans working near uranium mines in the northern desert region of niger. the kidnapping comes after a bomb threat earlier this week forced paris police to evacuate the eiffel tower. we're told investigators did not find any explosives but france's interior minister saying today there's mounting evidence the country is facing a high terror threat. a fox news weather alert now and we are tracking something very rare in the tropics. three hurricanes at the same time. check out these nasa images showing hurricanes igor and

julia both roaring across the atlant atlantic. closer to land, hurricane karl now moving over the gulf of mexico. chief meteorologist rick is live in the fox extreme weather center. rick, where are these three headed? >> yeah, in different directions. start with karl because it's the most immediate one here. this is karl right now and it's strengthening. fortunately, it doesn't have a whole lot more time over water. if it did, it would strengthen a lot. it looks like it potentially could go through some rapid intenseification, probably right around 24 hours from now making landful at vera cruz. igor and julia. julia not looking that impressive. this storm, though, is a monster. still a category 3. likely getting up to a category 4. you see both igor and julia making this right-hand turn, only real area is bermuda p potentially in the path of this

storm. that would be sometime sunday afternoon into the day on monday. could be taking a direct hit from a category 2, category 3 storm. pretty well prepared for storms like this. what we will feel in the eastern seaboard of the u.s., as early as this evening and tomorrow. very rough seas once again from florida to the state of maine. jon? >> thanks. now our series, the rise of freedom. our cameras have been following the rebuilding of the world trade center site for months. and it turns out we're not the only ones who had that idea. the developer, silverstein properties setting up a high rise studio for painters with personal connections to september 11th. shepard smith recently paid a visit to the artist's colony in the sky where they are recording history. >> this is the view of the window from my studio, where i

was during my attack. >> todd stone is a painter. he worked and lived just blocks from the world trade center towers and on that day, he watched the second plane hit the south tower and snapped this picture from his window. >> where my heart broke was watching the people on the roof of the trade center starting to jump. and knowing that we were powerless to help them. i think about those people. i -- it's -- they haunt me. >> as a tribute, stone and a small group of artists set up shop in seven world trade center. the building that now overlooks ground zero. in memory of the people who died on 9/11, they paint the rebuilding of the world trade center site. >> these are the footprints and these are part of what will be the memorial. >> right. >> diana horowitz spent 15 years painting the twin towers. on 9/11, diana was at home across the river in brooklyn and from there, she, too, watched the attacks. >> i just started crying immediately.

i guess everybody has that first moment where you go, oh, my god. >> nine years later, she's putting progress to canvas here. >> i really want to just be able to capture some of what's going on there. some of the change. >> in fact, ground zero is changing so quickly, that it's really hard for diana to keep her paintings up to date. >> this is a painting i've been working on for a month or so. >> and during that time, workers delivered the first trees to the site. >> now, i'm starting to put the trees in. >> they just came in. >> they just came in. >> you bring a little green today. >> exactly. >> for diana and todd, the change is a welcome relief. todd is going from painting a site filled with loss to a landscape bursting with hope. >> i've been painting what's not there. now, for the first time, there's the footprints of what's not there. it's been memorialized. for me, i feel like we've turned a corner. >> i'm done.

>> todd's paintings will be part of an exhibit on 9/11 in new jersey later this month. we have more information on our web site foxnews.com/freedom. you can see images from the rebuilding of ground zero and send e-mails to the workers making it happen. we'll have another story about the rise of freedom every thursday here on "the fox report." critics say embryonic stem cell research destroys life. but supporters argue the science can actually save people. and tonight, there's a new push to create permanent funding for the research. should lawmakers move forward or leave this matter to the courts? we'll report so you can decide. and traffic slows to a crawl thanks to a very curious kid. how this ended coming up. hey what's going on? doing t shipping. man, it would be a lot easier if we didn't have to weigh 'em all.

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>> the debate over embryonic stem cell research heating up today on capitol hill. democrats and top government scientists pushing to establish permanent federal funding. this after a federal judge last month blocked the use of taxpayer money for the controversial science. >> come too far to give up now. if we don't win this battle in the courts, we'll have to take it up in congress. this research must continue. >> if this research is slowed or halted, the greatest loss will be suffered by the millions of americans with conditions that might be helped by human embryonic stem cells. >> scientists say those conditions include heart disease, diabetes, spinal cord injuries and parkinson's, among others. but critics who oppose the research say it involves the destruction of human embryos. now, researchers could only wait to learn if they can go forward with their work. shannon bream has more live from across from the capitol. shannon? >> jon, there's a two pronged debate raging here in

washington. first, whether embryonic stem cell research is ethical and today, the focus is on the second question, whether taxpayer dollars will be used to fund it. they ordered federally funded embryonic stem cell research to come to a stop, a number of lawmakers decided it was time for them to step in. they called it an emergency. democratic senator arlen specter said scientists are in limbo and their research projects face an uncertain future because the funding that makes them possible is uncertain. he's introduced a law to restart that funding and a similar bill has been introduced in the house. it is clear, there is not a consensus on capitol hill when it comes to this controversy. >> this is a matter of conscience for me. but more importantly, it is a matter of conscience for millions of americans who are deeply troubled by the idea that their taxpayer dollars may be used to destroy another human life. >> there are 400,000 frozen

which will be lost and that we are not dealing with human life if it would be turned into human life. no one would suggest using them for medical research. >> with the extremely busy legislative schedule lawmakers are facing weeks ahead of the all important midterm elections there are serious questions about whether or not either of the pending bills will actually get to the floor for a vote any time soon. as for that ongoing federal case, the next ruling in that legal battle is due on monday. jon? >> shannon bream, thanks. california's whooping cough epidemic on track to break a record more than a half century old. that's according to state health officials who say the sickness has infected more than 4,000 people and killed nine. whooping cough is a highly contagious illness that peaks in its number of infections every five years and this is one of those years. symptoms said to be similar to a common cold but with a cough that lasts for weeks. all of the deaths occurred in babies. officials urging parents to get

booster shots for vulnerable kids. two airport valet drivers reportedly taking joy rides with customers' cars and it doesn't end well. our top story on a fox trip across america. >> north carolina, a man claims he dropped off his car at an airport in charlotte only to get a call hours later saying the vehicle had been involved in a bump-up. a police report indicating it happened while two valet drivers were racing in his and another customer's cars. the driver says his car is totalled but he has other concerns, too. au >> it's a public safety issue. >> the valet says the company fired him after the accident. >> minnesota, a mosquito problem in eden prairie. researchers have been counting mosquitos caught in overnight traps. they say lots of rain last month triggered big late season broods and the scientists claim things will get better in a couple of weeks.

>> kind of a mosquito's lost00 r -- last hurrah for the summer. they're going out with a bang meanwhile, the biting continues. an historic mansion going up in flames in edgeworth. the place reportedly served as a boarding school for girls in the mid 19th century. nobody hurt. california, blue whales cruising off the coast of rodondo beach. 20 to 30 of them we're told. check out this kayaker who managed to get close to one of them. you can do a size comparison and see just how big these whales can get and that's a fox watch across america. >> you know, drivers have to watch out for all kinds of trouble on the road. big potholes, wandering deer. curious toddlers. take a look. the scene on a highway in turkey when a small child decided to crawl out into the street. apparently, mom left her son sleeping under some bushes and didn't notice when he woke up and decided to go check out the traffic. one truck driver saw the boy sitting in the road and slowed

down to alert others. mom apparently then realized what had happened, she yanked her son to safety. we're told the toddler is just fine but police did question the mother. in many parts of the country, you can't light up in bars or restaurants anymore. and now, one city may ban smoking outside as well. that's next. i'm chef michael, and my dog bailey and i love to hang out in the kitchen. you love the aroma of beef tenderloin, don't you? you inspired a very special dog food. [ female announcer ] chef michael's canine creations. chef inspired. dog desired.

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home invasion involving rape, torture and the murders of three people. two suspects could face the death penalty if convicted. and police in baltimore say a distraught man shot a doctor and then killed his mother and himself at johns hopkins hospital in baltimore. we're told the doctor will survive. and on this day in 1908, a fellow named william durant incorporated a little company we know as general motors. durant got his start in the fledgling auto business as the head of buick but he claimed he didn't like the inconsistent quality of all the new vehicles on the road. in fact, there were some 45 different car companies at the time. so after lots of negotiations durant cobbled together 11 of those companies under a single roof. cadillac, oldsmobile and pontiac among them. g.m. later would force durant out and he spent the remainder of his life managing a bowling alley in michigan. but an automotive giant got into gear 102 years ago today.